Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning

The new Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) is a unit under the auspices of the Division of Academic Affairs. The overall goal of CETL is to assist faculty, staff, and graduate teaching assistants (TAs) in creating innovative and active learning environments. Its mission is to promote best practices in teaching that celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusiveness and lead to student success. CETL’s work is guided by the scholarship on teaching and learning that is in turn grounded in the research in the field of faculty educational development. Opportunities include orientations and training for new faculty and TAs, mini-workshops, faculty institutes and conferences, online resources, and classroom observations and consultations focused on formative assessment for continuous improvement of teaching and learning.

Mini-workshops

Mini-workshops are offered weekly throughout the semester. For the Winter 2018 semester, 10 workshops are available. See the titles, dates, and times below. All workshops last 1 ½ hours and take place at the CETL, Earl S. Richardson Library, room 107.

Collaborative Projects

The CETL is also involved in several collaborative projects with other units across the campus. These include work with the UNCF Career Pathways Initiative for Student Success, Lumina Foundation and the 50X25 graduation initiative, the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, the Office of International Student and Faculty Services, Office of Institutional Research, and the Office of Academic Technology.

Blackboard

A Blackboard Organization site exists for the CETL and offers faculty, staff, and TAs many resources to help improve pedagogical skills and general knowledge of teaching and higher education issues. Several informative YouTube videos are at the site and illustrate key concepts related to the improvement of teaching and learning such as how to help your students learn more effectively (i.e., how to develop their metacognitive skills), and others showing examples of active learning occurring in actual classrooms. Access Blackboard HERE.

News and Current Events

The first ever Department Chair training took place on February 20-22 in Denver, Colorado. Academic Impressions, a well-known organization specializing in faculty professional development, organized the workshop that was titled, “Leading and Influencing as a Department Chair.” Four of Morgan State’s Chairs, Sharon Finney, Linda Loubert, Melissa Littlefield, and Thurman Bridges travelled to Denver for the extensive training and came back ‘trained’ to then share their skills and knowledge with the remaining Chairs on campus. This train-the-trainer model is very effective and cost effective. Academic Impressions serves colleges and universities through their conferences, webcasts, and publications. They remain current by conducting thousands of hours of research and networking with hundreds of experts to uncover the most innovative and impactful practices in the field of faculty educational development. Their conferences prepare and empower higher education administrators such as Department Chairs to effect meaningful change back at their institutions, and now Morgan’s four Chairs are poised to lead and inspire their colleagues.

Guest speaker, Dr. Brian Norman from Loyola University-Baltimore led a day-long workshop for faculty from the College of Liberal Arts on June 12, 2017. The training was part of the large-course enrollment innovative teaching project sponsored by the Division of Academic Affairs.

English professor Anita Pandey participates in training offered as part of the large- course enrollment innovative teaching project last June 2017. Here she is discussing "what is mostly still the same" teaching a large-enrollment course.

Philosophy professor Joe Petitt and English professor, Brett Butler, try their hand at concept mapping using ideas associated with active learning. The day-long workshop was an introduction to concept mapping led by CETL Director, Catherine Martin-Dunlop on June 16, 2017.

History professor Takkara Brunson and Humanities professor, Mary Henderson reflect on their concept map made during a day-long workshop on concept mapping, June 16, 2017.

Teaching Assistants, Alghamdi Abdulwahab and Asimiyu Adeniyi, from the Economics Department use post-it notes to make their first concept maps. The training was offered by CETL's Director, Catherine Martin-Dunlop, on August 18, 2017.

Teaching Assistants Andy Reid and Brigét Horne use post-it notes to make their first concept maps.

Rehab Alghammas and Sabrina Sampson are Graduate Teaching Assistants learning how to concept map so that they can share the active learning strategy with their students.